There were a lot of questions during Monday night's Bloomsburg Town Council meeting dealing with the proposed reconstruction of West Third Street... between Market and Railroad. Council and an engineer from Larson Design Group put a lot of fears to rest... and received quality feedback from 3rd Street residents. The council okayed the proposal unanimously. Mayor Dan Knorr says the plans call for removing 2 inches of the current pavement... then rebuilding it back up an inch and a half of asphalt... at the same time installing new curbs and gutters. If all goes well... the project could be wrapped up by Fair Week.

Scott Twp Buyouts

Scott Township officials say they're happy to hear 23 properties in the Espy area are on the list to be bought out following last September's Lee flooding. 75% of the $2.5 million buyout will be funded by FEMA... with the state contributing 22%... and the Township chipping in 3%. Township Secretary Eric Stahley said the buyouts should begin sometime in September. Stahley says the properties are located along Old Berwick Road between Tenny Street and Edgar Avenue.... as well as White Birch Lane.

Police officer

Police officer Christopher Brock will be sentenced soon... after he was found guilty in Columbia County Court of two misdemeanors. Brock allegedly taking $700 from a migrant worker during a traffic stop in Benton nearly two years ago. Brock... of Orangeville... pleading guilty to official oppression and tampering with officials records. He has been suspended from his job at a state prison... as well as the Benton Police Department.

Spencer Visitation

No additional details have been released in the shooting death of a businessman. 46 – year old Frank Spencer died a week ago at his home on Fairview Road in Hemlock Township. An autopsy revealed he had been shot twice... once in the face... and once in the arm. State Police say no one has been arrested.

Meantime... a visitation will be held Tuesday afternoon starting at 4 O'clock for family and friends at the Allen Funeral Home at Market and 8th Streets.

Blood Drive

Roll up your sleeve.... that's what the Bloomsburg Chapter of the American Red Cross wants you to do... especially at this time of supplies being low. The local chapter's Sue Norton says the usual Tuesday drive is taking place at the Columbia Mall in Buckhorn... and she says first time donors are welcome. Today's blood drive at the mall takes place from 8 AM thru 1 PM.

Karen Boback

State Representative Karen Boback and her staffers will be in two different satellite offices in her district Tuesday. Representative Boback will be at the Dorrance Township Municipal building on Blue Ridge Trail in Mountain Top. This afternoon... starting at 1 O'clock... Ms Boback or her staffers will be at the Wright Township Municipal Building on South Mountain Boulevard in Mountain Top. They will be at the two locations to answer questions about events in Harrisburg... as well as cut red tape if you're doing business with the state.

Tuition Increase

Students returning to universities across the state... such as Bloomsburg University... will be paying more for tuition. The Pennsylvania System of High Education approving a 3% increase for the 2012 – 2013 school year. The increase comes out to about $188 a person. State officials say this is the fifth time in eight years tuition increases have been at or below the rate of inflation.

Neiman Marcus

Good economic news for Luzerne County. Governor Corbett announcing that the Neiman Marcus Group will locate a new distribution and fulfillment Center in Jenkins Township. The new center will create an estimated 150 jobs. Neiman Marcus will lease a 198,000 square foot building for at least 10 years in order to take care of east coast operations.

MinSec

Could MinSec in Hazleton be a thing of the past. Governor Corbett has signed a measure.... which ends sending pre – release inmates such locations at the end of the year. But State Representative Tarah Toohill wants the legislation implemented immediately... trying to get pre – release prisoners who are assigned to MinSec... back into state prison. Over the years... MinSec residents have caused problems in the Hazleton area.

Montour County

A group known as Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has identified seven illegal dump sites in Montour County.... with an estimated 11 tons of trash. The group says most of the sites are within 50 feet of waterways... four sites have waste materiel in the water. Statewide... there are 6,200 trash sites with 18,000 tons of waste.

Shenandoah Fire

A state police fire marshal is trying to determine what sparked a fatal blaze in a double block home in the 200 block of West Columbus Street in Shenandoah over the weekend. 52 – year old Samuel Nitolo was the only person in the portion of the house where the flames broke out. He was spotted by firefighters on the second floor... pulled from the building... but died enroute to a waiting med evac helicopter.

Farm Aid

The annual Farm Aid benefit concert is coming to HersheyPark Stadium in September. It will arrive as the country's small and medium-sized farms face a shifting economic landscape. One of the headline performers for the September 22nd show is Dave Matthews. Farm Aid has been held nearly every year since 1985, including in western Pennsylvania a decade ago, and has raised more than $40 - million to help keep family farmers on their land.

WHLM Sports

Penn State

Despite all their problems stemming from the Sandusky sex scandal... Penn State received more than $208 – million in donations in the fiscal year that just ended. That's the second highest total in university history. School officials said the uptick reversed two years of slight declines.

All Star Game

The owner of the best record in Major League Baseball... was hoping to become the first knuckleballer to start an All – Star game since Dutch Leonard in 1943. However.. R.A. Dickey's 12 and 1 record wasn't good enough. National League Manager Tony La Russa picked San Francisco's Matt Cain to start the game to be played Tuesday night in Kansas City.

Home Run Derby

There were some preliminary's leading up to Tuesday night's game.... it's the All – Star Home Run Derby. Prince Fielder slammed 28 home runs over three rounds to cap the main event. He hit four of the longest drives of the night... including a pair that went 476 feet.